The Order
What is "The Order"? The Order is a centralized clan that is shrouded in mystery, mainly due to the fact that they keep to themselves and are rarely seen. Although very little is known about them, it has been recorded that they intervene when clans are at war or if there is a spiritual imbalance. They are the quintessential enforcers of the "laws of the land" and preserve the harmonious way of life, no matter what the cost, even if, ironically, by force. Why was The Order Created? The Order came to creation after one of the most notorious events to have scarred the history of all the clans, and, almost wipe humanity out as a whole: The Spirit Cataclysm. During the sixth month of the year 1379, the clans were all at war. With all the death, destruction, and chaos, a catastrophic spiritual imbalance within the Spirit Realm occurred: the Dark Spirits fed off of the negativity. The Dark Spirit Lord Araeth quickly seized the opportunity and gathered the spirits and formed the Legion of Darkness. Araeth, with the help of the Legion, aimed to create a link between their realm and the Realm of the Living with the ultimate goal of enslaving all life. Thaelan, the leader of the Guardians (a coalition of Light Spirits that keep the Dark Spirits in check) soon caught wind of this. She immediately mobilized her forces and began to march to the only known site of which Araeth could create the spiritual link: The Heart of Realms. In reality, the "Heart" was actually a former portal that the spirits used to use in order to move freely between the Spirit Realm and the Realm of the Living. Sav'athrel and Thorvan, the Gods of Balance, order it be shut down after human and spirit relations had soured and caused too much conflict. In a matter of days, Thaelan had arrived at the Heart, but so had Araeth. A brutal conflict immediately ensued as Araeth and Thaelan's forces clashed. As hard as the Guardians had fought, Araeth managed to reactivate the portal and the link was established. He successfully routed the Guardians and drove them back from the portal, allowing his forces to breach into the Realm of the Living. The exit to the portal, in the Valley of Serenity, sparked to life; the Humans looked to it. Suddenly, the Dark Spirits began to pour out and immediately began to slaughter any defensive forces that tried to combat them; days had passed and Araeth was rapidly completing his goal, enslaving one clan after another. As Araeth continued his invasion, Thaelan, with the aid of her spiritual casters, began an attempt to open a separate rift. Meanwhile, a resistance coalition of the warring clans had formed to oppose the Dark Spirits. Within them, men and women had risen above the rest and proved themselves to be champions, not only of their clans, but humanity: Mits'haru the Blademaster, Aiko the Healer, Kitsumi the Assassin, Daisuke the Marksman, Takeru the Warrior, and Yoshio the Righteous. Together, they rallied the clans and brought a stiff resistance to Araeth's forces, but merely slowed them down. However, upon the sixth day of Araeth's siege, a separate rift tore through into the Realm of the Living; it was Thaelan and her forces. Thaelan immediately began a search for the six champions, eventually finding them. Seeing their true potential and how their actions had held off Araeth long enough to keep them all alive, she granted them what no human had ever had before: the Power of the Spirits. They could now bend the light to their will, and keep the Dark Spirits at bay.' '''Thaelan and the six human champions rallied the Guardians and resistance and began a march to the open Spirit Portal to face Araeth. When they arrived, the land was in complete chaos. Human slaves had already been put to work, doing various activities that Araeth had assigned to them. As they gazed upon the land before them, the Dark Legion had amassed -- Araeth had expected them. He had in no means weakened, in fact, he had grown in strength. The battle finally commenced as Light and Dark collided. The champions quickly took to the fields to assist their allies and fellow man as Thaelan took to dealing with Araeth. It was hours before a shift occurred: the Dark Spirits seemed to have gotten much stronger. Fearing the worst, the champions made their way to the Spirit Portal where Thaelan and Araeth were battling. As they arrived, they noticed that Araeth had imprisoned Thaelan in dark bindings, holding her firmly in place. Some sort of dark energy was being channeled between them; he was draining the light from her and tainting it with darkness. The champions did not hesitate; they quickly launched an assault on Araeth, breaking the channel. A brutal conflict between the champions and the Dark Spirit Lord broke out. Although they fought valiantly, they were gradually losing and were, one by one, struck down. By some miracle though, something happened that would alter the course of the battle: their bodies became infused with massive surges of light and they rose up, stronger than ever; Araeth had not prepared for this. The champions began to fight Araeth with not the might of six, but rather the might of six hundred. The Dark Spirit Lord was gradually beaten down and became weak enough to where Thaelan could break free from the bindings. Before Araeth could react, Thaelan had sent a powerful blast of light energy at him and knocked him down. With amazing speed, she began to cast bindings of light rather than darkness on Araeth. Try all he did, he could not break free from the bindings; he had become too weak. Thaelan channeled her energy and became to stream light into him. Eventually, he became consumed by light and disintegrated into small particles of light that found their way back into the Spirit Portal. Suddenly, a blast of energy emitted from the portal that targeted the Dark Spirits; they themselves all disintegrated and their particles drifted back in to the portal. It was over. Araeth and the Dark Spirits had been fought back. Although the damage that was caused by the conflict was immense, Thaelan and the Light Spirits remained for some time to help the humans rebuild what had been destroyed. The corruption from the land was gradually cleansed and, although things were not going to be the same as they were, life began to find its way back throughout the world. Before Thaelan left, she had created a clan to ensure that something like this would never happen again: The Order. Mits'haru, Aiko, Kitsumi, Daisuke, Takeru, and Yoshio had become the members of The Order. They kept the powers bestowed upon them by Thaelan and they had been given the responsibility to maintain and balance life as we have come to know it. Sadly, although they were blessed with the Power of the Spirits, they were still human and eventually died of age. However, a new generation of the most trusted of men and women took over, and so, ever since the initial founding of The Order, only the most trusted of men and women of the clans had taken position within it. Life returned to normal and the Spirit Portal remains sealed to this very day. '''Current Members of The Order' Kai Tsong (SethShadowmourne) ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________